AFL: Hanson Drives In Run As Scottsdale Loses Season Finale

On the last day of the Arizona Fall League regular season, the Scottsdale Scorpions dropped their seventh straight game, going down 3-2 to Salt River. They finished the season with a 10-21 record, worst in the AFL.

Three Pittsburgh Pirates players were in the starting lineup on Thursday. Alen Hanson was in the lead-off spot, with Alex Dickerson hitting fifth and in right field, while Gift Ngoepe was at second base and batting eighth. For the first five innings, they were going up against the Blue Jays' top prospect Aaron Sanchez, who has been perhaps the best pitcher in the AFL this season.

Leading off the game, Alen Hanson drew a six pitch walk. He was quickly erased on a double play. In his second at-bat, Hanson went down swinging. He came up in the fifth with two outs and a man on base, but didn't get to complete his plate appearance due to a caught stealing. In the sixth inning, Hanson grounded out to first base. In the eighth inning, with a man on second base and two outs, ...

John was born in Kearny, NJ, hometown of the 2B for the Pirates 1909 World Championship team, Dots Miller. In fact they have some of the same relatives in common, so it was only natural for him to become a lifelong Pirates fan. Before joining Pirates Prospects in July 2010, John had written numerous articles on the history of baseball while also releasing his own book and co-authoring another on the history of the game. He writes a weekly article on Pirates history for the site, has already interviewed many of the current minor leaguers with many more on the way and follows the foreign minor league teams very closely for the site. John also provides in person game reports of the West Virginia Power and Altoona Curve.